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By Joe Geranio

I
have always been interested in the coinage of the Julio Claudians with a
strong emphasis on Caligula 's coins. I love his coinage with the year
41 A.D. and when you think about the historical value alone!! Caligula
was assassinated by his own praetorian guard. "On the ninth day before
the Kalends of February at about the seventh hour he hesitated whether
or not to get up for luncheon, since his stomach was still disordered
from excess of food on the day before, but at length he came out at the
persuasion of his friends. In the covered passage through which he had
to pass, some boys of good birth, who had been summoned from Asia to
appear on the stage, were rehearsing their parts, and he stopped to
watch and to encourage them; and had not the leader of the troop
complained that he had a chill, he would have returned and had the
performance given at once. From this point there are two versions of the
story: some say that as he was talking with the boys, Chaerea came up
behind, and gave him a deep cut in the neck, having first cried, "Take
that," and that then the tribune Cornelius Sabinus, who was the other
conspirator and faced Gaius, stabbed him in the breast. Others say that
Sabinus, after getting rid of the crowd through centurions who were in
the plot, asked for the watchword, as soldiers do, and that when Gaius
gave him "Jupiter," he cried "So be it," and as Gaius looked around, he
split his jawbone with a blow of his sword. As he lay upon the ground
and with writhing limbs called out that he still lived, the others
dispatched him with thirty wounds; for the general signal was "Strike
again." Some even thrust their swords through his privates. At the
beginning of the disturbance his bearers ran to his aid with their
poles, and presently the Germans of his body-guard, and they slew
several of his assassins, as well as some inoffensive senators.
(Suetonius - Life of Caligula 58).

I always wanted the date the
is on this coin: C CAESAR . AVG . PON . M . TR . POT IIII COS . IIII. My
chance came with a dealer I know and have trusted for over 25 years.
There it was, all wrapped and ready for me to go!! It was in a Triton
Sale in 2006 and I thought, oh no, its going to go for around 10,000
dollars, surely everyone was looking at this coin like I was, the
wonderful wreathS P Q R / P P / OB C Sreverse and the DATE! I had a limit
of around 3,000 dollars maximum at this time for a coin, and was so
cynical, I did not bid on it. The dealer said, you never know? This
taught me a great lesson on coin bidding. Just go for it. But why did I
have to learn the lesson on this issue!

Although
the first of these three rare coins, the BM piece, was cataloged in the
first edition of RIC I, it was left out of the revised edition. In that
edition, Giard notes (p. 110, note *) that the BM piece was a
misreading of TR POT III COS III. In fact, the first edition was
correct, the piece was not misdescribed. The second known example of
this type was sold as lot 56 in the Bourgey sale of 17 December 1913.
Ironically, Bourgey misdescribed that coin as TR POT III COS III.

I
knew the dealers sometimes leave the estimate bid low, this was at
2,000 USD, I thought no way this will get blown up the first day of
bidding!! Well to make a long story short, the coin went for 2,600
dollars and I have forever kicked my self whenever I think of it. On top
of all that the coin is unlisted at: http://www.ancientcoins.ca/RIC/RIC1/RIC1_Caligula.htm
and just references: GAIUS (CALIGULA). 37-41 AD. AR Denarius (3.62 g,
6h). Rome mint. Struck January 41 AD. C CAESAR AVG PON MTR POT IIII COS
IIII, laureate head of Gaius (Caligula) right / S P Q R/P P/OB C S in
three lines within oak wreath. RIC I -; RIC I (1st ed.) 7 = BMCRE 32 =
RSC 23a; Lyon -; BN -; Cohen -.